City of Prairie Du Chien HABS No. WI-302 Crawford County Wisconsin
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City of Prairie du Chien HABS No. WI-302 Crawford County Wisconsin / ; ■/*.// c IS/9 r-i A f / f- WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA Historic American Buildings Survey National Park Service Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. 20013-7127 CITY OF PRAIRIE DU CHIEN HABS No. WI-302 (Page 1) INTRODUCTION This historical and architectural survey and inventory was undertaken in partial fulfillment of the obligations of the St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, regarding cultural resources, set forth in the Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (P.L. 91-190), Executive Order 11593 for the Protection and Enhancemet of the Cultural Environment (13 Hay 1971, 36 C.F.R. 8921), the Archaeological Conservation Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-291), the Advisory- Council on Historic Preservation's "Procedures for the Protection of Historic and Cultural Properties" (36 C.F.R. , Part 800), the Department of the Interior's guidelines concerning cultural resources (36 C.F.R., Part 60, and Interim Regulations Parts 32, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66) and the Corps of Engineers Regulation (ER 1105-2-460), "Identification and Administration of Cultural Resources" (Federal Register, 3 April 1978). Because of a long history of high water capped by the devastating flood of 1965, the current flood control project at Prairie du Chien calls for the removal of all residences from the designated floolplain area. Some buildings are being relocated by their owners or purchasers, and the rest are slated to be demolished. The purpose of this study is to identify which structures might be eligible for inclusion on the National Register, and therefore are of sufficient historical value to be preserved in place. A secondary objective, encouraged by the Historic American Buildings Survey, is to inventory and record all the structures from a historical/architectural point of view. In view of their imminent demolition, an inventory of all the buildings over fifty years old is justified, although they may not merit actual preservation or detailed recording. The project area is limited to the floodplain as determined by the Corps of Engineers. This area includes the entire Island of St. Friole with certain exceptions. Five structures and their outbuildings, by virtue of having been declared National Historic Landmarks, are already listed on the National Register and are therefore exempt from this study: Villa Louis, American Fur Warehouse, Brisbois House, Rolette House, and Dousman House (see figures 1- 5). In addition, only two businesses, both taverns dependent on walk-in trade, are included in the flood control project; other industries on the island, such as the gravel pit and the lumberyard, are exempt from this study. Historically known as the main village, the Island of St. Friole is popularly referred to as the Fourth Ward. The project area also includes the lowest lying portions of the city's mainland, which stretch nine blocks north of Blackhawk Avenue, and sixteen blocks south, but only two blocks east of the river (see map 6). Because this study is concerned with extant buildings, much of Prairie du Chien*s frontier past is irrelevant to the present survey. Instead, this study is concerned with the development of Prairie du Chien from a trading post to a city, from 1820 to 1875. In those years, Prairie du Chien grew from an outpost on the Mississippi, dependent largely on the fur trade for subsistence, to an incorporated city accessible to a transportation network. .1 CITY OF PRAIRIE DU'XHIEN HABS No. WI-302 (Page 2) Also during that time, the large French land holdings were subdivided and platted into the blocks and lots we know today. After 1875, Prairie du Chien declined gradually, being supplanted by St. Paul in importance, and little new construction was undertaken in the project area. This study involves this nineteenth century history, of which so little has been written. In many ways, the buildings themselves are the best guides to the past, from frontier construction to high style, or lack of it. Each building over fifty years old is recorded herein, with a photograph, written description, and indication of construction date. Each building built before 1876 is further recorded with a more complete history in which the owners and personalities are defined, and probable costruction dates pinpointed. This study also Includes a brief history of the urban development of Prairie du Chien, important to an understanding of the architecture. A section on the types and styles of architecture in the project area attempts to explain the influences on the vernacular. And, finally, recommendations for development of the island as a historic resource, as well as interpretation of the preserved buildings, are made. EDITOR'S NOTE: Individual inventory cards of each structure are in the field records. The maps referred to in this report have been lost. CITY OF PRAIRIE DU CHIEN HABS No. WI-302 (Page 3) METHODOLOGY The identification of structures within the project area that are eligile for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places was based on the evaluation of properties in accordance with the criteria established by the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the Department of the Interior. The criteria for evaluation are as follows: The quality of significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and A. that are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or B. that are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or C. that embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or D. that have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. The National Register criteria are written in a manner broad enough to encompass the variety of cultural resources found within the United States. They emphasize the selection of structures which are of merit either for their architectural or aesthetic quality or for their association with personalities or events of historic and cultural significance. In applying these criteria to the structures found within the project area, it was necessary to analyze the buildings on these two levels. Prairie du Chien's early historical significance as an outpost in the Old Northwest Territory in the early nineteenth century is recognized nationally. Therefore, stress was placed on identifying structures that qualified for the National Register within the context of this early historic significance. Though the early period of this area's history was stressed, the study did not limit itself to that era alone. Effort was made to expand the period of significance and to explore events and personalities of local importance to the development of Prairie du Chien and in particular to the development of the Main Village, the earliest area of settlement and continual inhabitation. Emphasis was also placed on judging the relative merit of the local architecture and building techniques and placing these styles within the context of this city's historical development. The report prepared by Edgar S. Oerichbauer in 1976, Prairie du Chien: _A Historical Study, was used initially to outline the work to be done in surveying the properties within the project area. Oerichbauer!s study CITY OF PRAIRIE DU CHIEN HABS No. WI-302 (Page 4) examined the archaeological importance of this area and provided an excellent historical synopsis of the early settlement of Prairie du Chien. His brief survey of structures within the project area provided valuable information on probable structures of interest. Oerichbauer's main contribution to the present survey, however, was his documentation of the early appearance of this city as reported by various visitors and travellers whose observations were recorded in the literature his study revealed. His study provided little help in dealing with the vernacular structures so prevalent within the project area. As commented on before, the majority of structures of interest in the project area are the product of the mid-nineteenth century, not the early period of settlement that his study researched so exhaustively. Historical studies of Prairie du Chien tend to pay little attention to the period of growth between 1820 and 1875, in that they concentrate on the French influence and frontier role of the city. Peter L. Scanlan's work, Prairie du Chien: French, British, American, is an excellent study of the early development of the town but he too neglects the later events of local significance on which this survey was so dependent. Stored in the Area Research Center in Platteville, Wisconsin, his papers are referred to in this paper by file box number; the book, by page number. It was fundamental to this report that the development of Prairie du Chien, and in particular, the growth of the project area, be more fully researched and docmented if the historical associations of the present structures were not to be neglected. In researching the urban development of the project area, several primary sources were invaluable. Two maps of Prairie du Chien, an 1870 bird's-eye view and an 1876 map showing subdivisions and locations of existing structures, were used extensively in documenting early structures and growth patterns. Tax records from 1857 to the present were also used to determine the age of structures and to pinpoint building dates. The most important information on the development of the project area in the nineteenth century, however, was gathered from the deed records maintained in the Crawford County Courthouse.